Darswords

Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “record.” Use it as a noun, use it as a verb, use it any way you’d like. Have fun!

I haven’t been camping since my children were small. Here I am at 73 trying to do the rugged adventure. And just diagnosed with diverticulitis. But the antibiotics were gone as were the fever and need for a bland diet.  I was/am still tired and had/have to pace myself. That’s how I packed. Part of me nearly melting in tears like a toddler. I can’t do this! What am I thinking?

For the record, this week has been just that.

Somehow I was ready. I had a huge list and did nearly my young self type of packing. But now beyond drawing and coloring and letter writing materials, I brought my knitting, a pair of socks nearly finished and a hat. There was also a Sudoku booklet and a word search book. I had two books downloaded to my phone. I figured I didn’t need my Fires for bedtime shutdown. But my phone lost all the battery the first day.

So my exhausted first night was a word search. Boring! No brain for Sudoku no comfortable seating for knitting.

After we set up the tent and camp we finally sat in our chairs. That’s when our new friends showed up. Although there were dozens of chipmunks scurrying around one little guy came and let me talk to it. He got closer and closer. I shared a bit of crackers with him.

Then Mr. Robin Redbreast flew near. He liked chatting with us.

We were so lucky the restroom was just feet away. They were clean and well lit. There were even showers. That made those inevitable night trips a little less scary.

My first night was miserable. I hadn’t blown up the mattress quite as taut as I should. It was very uncomfortable. And OH SO COLD around 4AM. Lessons learned.

Day two I spent the time with the pump and mattress. And we drove a few miles to town and got the things we needed. I got another sleeping bag to cover while lying on the first one.

Backing up. Speaking of the distance. There were detours due to road maintenance. What should have been a short trip to camp that first day seemed nearly an hour. So we were fortunate to learn an alternate way back to town

We got a lot of steps in while shopping so we sat in our chairs a bit when we got back. We ate the wraps we picked up at Trader Joe’s. My chipmunk friend showed up. I shared bits of my wrap. He actually stood up and looked us in the eyes. It seemed to be a thanks for the food.

Mr. Robin brought either his wife or a large offspring. She opened her beak to him. Feed me! She said in bird.

I told my friend how when we were kids on our annual three-week campout my dad would lay back in his lounger and chatter with Blue Jays. Just that moment one flew nearby. But I guess I don’t know their language as he flew away.

Now we had what was needed to start a fire. My friend had more experience so I stayed out of the way. But the logs we bought didn’t want to start. I finally got up and walked to the restroom. When I got back she showed me a picture of how the fire had taken. But sadly it had diminished to smoke and hot spots. Oh, well.

We had talked about staying one more night but the reality of the rental car made us realize this was our last night.

This night I slept like a baby. Even if my bedtime ritual was another couple word searches.

The cold morning wasn’t bone deep. And faded to warm as we woke.

Again we tried to start a fire. But once again I made instant coffee with the hot water from the faucet. Lucky that was there.

Intermittent fasting is still my thing, so I didn’t need a breakfast.

We knew we were leaving this day so we broke down a lot of camp.

To cool off we went in search of the river. With a bit of a hike, we found and waded in it.

Back at camp we did a bit more decamping.

Friends from a nearby town came to visit with us. That was fun.

When they left it was time to finish breaking camp. Folding up the tent and tarps. It was so hot by now that we had to do things in short spurts. We are both prone to heat stroke so we needed to be careful.

The tent was easy. The hard part was getting everything in the car so that our stuff was easy to separate as I was only two hours away. My friend had another six hours to her home.

I was so glad to get home and unpack. I felt sorry my friend had so much driving yet to go. But she made it home safely

This was such a fun trip that we both are looking forward to another camping trip soon. Am I rugged? I’m getting there?